1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a portable recording and playback system, and more particularly, to a customized audio system capable of recording, re-recording, previewing, and transferring audio between an external recording device and a playback module.
2. Background Art
It is common for one giving a gift of a flower arrangement to attach a personalized hand-written note to the arrangement. The written note lacks the vitality and personality of the gift giver's voice and many times the giver is unable to convey a sentiment to the receiver with enough word economy to fit on the card. Additionally, voice tone, inflection and accent are rarely captured effectively in writing. Currently, paper-based promotional products carry high costs with poor functional value, and yet the paper-based products predominate the advertising premium market. Other popular products, such as balloons, coffee mugs and T-shirts have similar print-related limitations.
Hand-held recorders of the prior art are generally too big and bulky to be attached to a floral arrangement or paired with other gifts or promotional products to identify the giver. The prior art recording devices are generally high-cost and therefore not viable for promotional or personal use.
There have been attempts in the prior art to market talking trading and greeting cards. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,698 discloses a greeting card with an electronic sound recording of a personalized message. U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,156 teaches squeezable trading cards capable of generating recorded sounds. However, the devices of both references do not allow the user to easily customize her messages on a re-recordable card.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a quick and easy system for the transmission of audio segments between an external recorder and a credit card-sized sound module for the playback of personalized messages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a credit card-sized sound module capable of receiving and playing digital audio messages from a computer, CD-player, or recorder via a specially adapted external recorder.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a credit card-sized sound module that has a solid state semiconductor chip for storing short voice messages which can be segmented and arranged by the user.
These and other objects will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the present drawings, specification and claims before them.